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SOMERVILLE – To ensure the future of the Tour of Somerville bike races, an advisory board has been created to identify a new promoter of the event.

In an op-ed on page A-4 of today’s paper, Maria Strada, executive director of Middle Earth, the nonprofit organization that has been involved in the race for 30 years and has been its organizer for 17 years, and Jan McLachlan, president of the organization’s board of directors, said that Middle Earth has taken “our last turn” as the primary organizer.

The advisory board was developed “to help identify other community stakeholders who can take over being the promoter of this event,” Strada said in a follow-up statement.

“We love the event and we want to continue to support the community, but we also have to make sure we are able to fulfill our primary mission of providing at-risk youth with good, quality programs,” Strada said.

Middle Earth, founded in 1967, has focused on meeting the needs of at-risk youth throughout Somerset County.

Strada said that Middle Earth has reached out over the past two years to potential sponsors and community and political leaders to seek “the leadership and resources to take the tour forward for its next 75 years.”

The Tour of Somerville was started in in 1940 by bike shop owner Pop Kugler. In the decades that followed, the 50-mile race traditionally conducted on Memorial Day, grew in national stature and became known as the “Kentucky Derby of Bicycling Races.”

The popularity of the race peaked in the 1980s after the success of the movie “Breaking Away” and the participation of former American champion speedskater Eric Heiden. Attendance reached near 50,000.

But in recent years, the popularity of the race has “waned,” according to Micah Rice, vice president of national events for USA Cycling. Attendance, Strada said, is now about 10,000.

There are more than 3,000 certified bicycle races in the country, Rice said, and the Tour of Somerville’s traditional spot on Memorial Day conflicts with other races.

Mayor Brian Gallagher, who sits on the advisory committee, said the transition is part of the event’s “evolution” and will be a “great opportunity” to expand the scope of involvement in the race to all of Somerset County.

“Seventeen years ago, Middle Earth grabbed the mantle and now it’s the time for someone else,” he said.

Gallagher said the advisory committee has met once and will convene again in June.

Strada said Middle Earth will remain active in the Tour of Somerville.

“We hope to be able to provide volunteers and to assist with set-up and clean-up at the events as well as promote community service among our youth,” she said.